In the last decade or so, we’ve often heard the cliché that when performing to the peak of their powers, Arsenal play the best football in the Premier League and given some of the goals they’ve scored down the years, it’s sometimes hard to disagree.
Always endorsing a cavalier, attacking style to their play, Arsenal have been the great entertainers of the Premier League era although it is to their detriment sometimes with this style of football not always being enough to secure silverware.
Having won two back-to-back FA Cup’s in the last two seasons, Arsene Wenger has managed to turn his own fortunes around at the club somewhat although there is still an entire generation of Gooners who have been left feeling spoilt in their younger years when the club could call on the likes of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and Robert Pires.
With it being much more harder for Arsenal to win the Premier League nowadays, ahead of their trip to Chelsea earlier, they could feel relatively content this term having won three out of their opening five top flight fixtures but everybody connected with the club knows that they can and will perform better than they have done so far.
With the neutrals waiting for Match of the Day to air on our big projector screen here in the Football Transfer Tavern this evening, we’re taking this moment to devise a list of the five most outrageous Arsenal goals of the last 10 years.
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 most outrageous Arsenal goals from the past 10 years.
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Jack Wilshere vs Norwich City (H) – 2013
If ever there was a dictionary definition for the perfect team goal, this was it for Arsenal against Norwich City back in 2013.
To this very day, the Canaries defenders that tried to stop this simply ridiculous goal will still have their heads left in a spin after Santi Cazorla and then Jack Wilshere and Olivier Giroud created what simply was a breathtaking piece of attacking play.
A master class in one touch play, both Giroud and Wilshere pinged a series of deadly assists to one another on the edge and then inside Norwich’s penalty area before the England international tucked Giroud’s final assist away with aplomb.
What a shame it is for both Arsenal and England supporters that Wilshere has suffered yet another injury setback when he can provide such moments of joy like this!
Thierry Henry vs Real Madrid (A) – 2006
Back in 2006, Thierry Henry produced one of Arsenal’s most iconic Champions League strikes away in Real Madrid’s cathedral of the Bernabeu of all places.
Part of the Gunners’ awesome run all the way up to the Paris Final of the Champions League that season where they ultimately lost to Barcelona, Henry proved he was in the absolute pomp of his career by picking the ball up from a then baby faces Cesc Fabregas in midfield before unleashing on a fearless drive beyond Real Madrid’s midfield and defence.
Leaving firstly Ronaldo (the original one), then Guti then finally Sergio Ramos for dead on his rampaging run up field, Henry tucked the most deadly accurate strike beyond Iker Casillas to send Arsenal fans into absolute seventh heaven!
Tomas Rosicky vs Tottenham Hotspur (A) – 2014
When the fixtures are released for a new Premier League season each summer, despite claiming they’ve left them behind, Arsenal supporters will always look for the two dates in which they’re facing fierce North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
Back in March 2014, any Arsenal fan that was late to White Hart Lane or alternatively their TV screen would’ve missed Tomas Rosicky’s absolute piledriver of a 2nd minute opener and subsequent match winner in a tight North London Derby encounter.
In a game in which Tottenham actually went on to dominate in large spells with Arsenal holding on with a new found resilience amidst the troops, nobody will ever forget the stunning style in which Arsene Wenger’s men initially blew away their old foes with the most unstoppable of early strikes.
And let’s be honest, it matters a hell of a lot more when it’s against Tottenham Hotspur to boot!
Spurs fans must be absolutely sick of the sight of Rosicky or ‘Little Mozart’ as Gooners call him with the Czech Republic international having a knack of scoring against Tottenham despite often being injured for large parts of a season.
Aaron Ramsey vs Galatasaray (A) – 2014
We only have to rewind to last season to have witnessed the latest outrageous goal of the past decade from an Arsenal perspective.
On the final gameweek and matchday six of the Champions League group stages last year, Arsenal made the long trip to Istanbul to face Turkish giants Galatasaray but Arsene Wenger flew with a weakened team having already wrapped up qualification alongside Borussia Dortmund.
One first team squad member that did travel while starting the match was Aaron Ramsey with Wenger being pleased he selected the Welshman due to the absolutely unstoppable half volley he produced from range on the 29th minute to follow up not only his first goal but also Lukas Podolski’s opener in the third minute to put the Gunners into an unassailable 3-0 first half lead.
Gala goalkeeper Sinan Bolat stood absolutely no chance with this one.
Cesc Fabregas vs AC Milan (A) – 2008
They may absolutely loathe him nowadays given his defection to Chelsea but that aside, you can’t take away the fact that Cesc Fabregas still enjoyed some of the best days in his career during his spell with Arsenal.
Going on to captain Arsene Wenger’s side of course, one of Fabregas’ finest moments in a red (well, white on this occasion!) shirt was in the Champions League campaign of 2007/08 whereby Arsenal achieved one of their greatest European results by defeating AC Milan 2-0 in the San Siro in the second leg of their last 16 knockout clash.
Following a 0-0 draw in a tense first game at Emirates Stadium, the Gunners travelled to northern Italy knowing that it’d be tough to achieve a win in such an intimidating venue but late on in the game with just six minutes of normal time remaining, Fabregas sent Gooners into overdrive by rasping a shot from range past the hapless dive of Aussie stopper Zeljko Kalac.
With fellow Arsenal Judas Emmanuel Adebayor having then gone on to make the game safe in injury time, this was an unforgettable night for Arsene Wenger’s men in Italy, having similarly taken down stadium sharers Inter Milan in the same venue five years prior to that.
